Igloo Will Be Demolished, Peace Out Homie

The demise of the Igloo will occur as soon as February, 2011. Despite pleas from local preservation groups, the Sports & Exhibition Authority decided, by unanimous vote, to move forward with plans to tear down the Civic Arena aka Mellon Arena.

The Sports & Exhibition Authority voted this morning to demolish the Civic Arena, with no discussion. The vote by the seven-member board was unanimous.

Who was in charge of coming up with this line to feed the press? Since when are they worried about asbestos? LOL, priceless:

Mary Conturo, SEA executive director, said the agency now will start removing asbestos from the building and prepare bids for demolition, which could be ready by February.

Hey guys, we got a new arena, so let’s start fresh! No, Pittsburgh, not everything in life is about sports. There’s the issue that the voice of the people was possibly ignored while the desires of businessmen were fulfilled. Of course, this might fit extremely well with the mayor’s “Taking Care of Business” campaign. Ironically, the signs are posted on trash cans all over the city.

Many parts of the Burgh could use serious redevelopment. Why tear down a historical landmark when they could put their capital towards fixing up what is already broken? As far as we know, the Igloo wasn’t broken, just outdated. Is that justification for dumping millions of dollars into destroying it for something like a parking lot?

Obviously we need more parking lots in Pittsburgh because that’s how the city pays the bills. Here’s a list of other historical landmarks that the city can consider next:

Who cares! Let’s get ready for 9/22 when the Penguins take on the Red Wings at the new Consol Energy Center @ 7:00!

Wait, one more thing:

Check out @pensboozeanger‘s smart idea to etch the image of the Mellon Arena on the windows of the Consol Energy Center. Don’t just agree with the awesomeness, join the Facebook group in support of it!

While it would be nice to keep it, it was going to cost $500,000/year to sit there every year. Wouldn’t it be better to spend a bit more now to demolish it and actually get some use out of the land? Maybe create a few jobs?

Parking isn’t the best around there during events, but isn’t there a garage next to CEC now, and that would be rad to park in the Igloo. That’s what they should do with it instead of tear it down. Let people park there and charge a premium for it. And they will still have all the parking around the Igloo too. Win win.